The 85-member National Assembly, elected in December 1992, met in February with a mandate to make "fundamental changes" in society. But the sweeping transformation that followed, or rather continued, owed little to the legislature. The communist Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, though wholly committed to abolishing the command economy, remained firmly in control. It would stay in power "forever," a party official said after the election. Pres. Nouhak Phoumsavan and Prime Minister Khamtai Siphandon proceeded apace with the creation of a full-scale market economy.

A government official visiting Bangkok, Thailand, in August was able to report that the sale of state-owned factories to private enterprise was virtually complete. A Thai firm had acquired the national telephone system and television broadcasting facilities. A senior World Bank official called this transformation truly amazing. In August a nine-man committee was set up to fight rising corruption.

Neighbouring Thailand was by far the largest source of foreign investment, although firms from the U.S., Japan, and France also injected capital. Thai ventures that won approval included hotels, gas stations, industrial estates, mining operations, and cement marketing. Thai commercial banks opened many branches, while the Bank of Thailand taught the Laotian central bank how to regulate a market economy. Work also continued on a new investment law. In June, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai signed a memorandum of understanding on development of energy resources. Electricity, the country’s most profitable export, was set to expand enormously with the harnessing of hydropower on tributaries of the Mekong River. A study in May indicated that seven new power stations could increase the country’s current generating capacity of 195 MW to 2,690 MW within eight years. In addition, a Thai company agreed to develop a 150-MW lignite-fired plant.

The Friendship Bridge across the Mekong--which linked Vientiane, the Laotian capital, and the Thai port city of Nong Khai--neared completion. A gift of the Australian government, the bridge was designed to accommodate future railroad lines. Studies were also under way for a highway crossing Laos from Thailand to a Vietnamese port. In July Cambodian officials offered alternative access to the sea for Laotian exports. Relations with the U.S. remained good. Laotian authorities cooperated fully as the U.S. continued its search for the remains of 514 servicemen still listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War. The reluctance of Vientiane to accept back tens of thousands of Hmong who had fled the country after the Communist takeover had become a source of friction with several countries. Thailand, for example, reported that some 35,000 Hmong refugees were still living within its borders. Robert Woodrow

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